The 5 elements permeate the cards in an almost unavoidable way. Each Major Arcana is associated with either a planet or a sign that carries with it an elemental nature. The Majors as a whole depict Spirit, the 5th element. Then we have the minors. Each set governs an entire element, Pentacles are Earth, Wands are Fire, Cups are Water and Swords are Air. We can take it even further. Among the suit cards you’ll find 4 court characters - Pages, Knights, Queens and Kings. Each “type” of court also has its associated element. The Pages are associated with Earth, the Knights Air, the Queens Water and the Kings Fire. So while the Page of Cups is a “Water” card by its suit, the element of Earth would also apply and add an extra layer of information about the workings of that character.

I remember when I first began really noticing synchronicities. It was, like it is for many, through repeated numbers showing up for me every day, in all manner of ways.

Through the years, the type of synchronicity I receive and the frequency at which I receive them has evolved. Along with that too, with much contemplation on the subject, has my relationship with them. Do I have all the answers? Never will I ever (on anything), but this is what I’ve come to realize for myself where these little signposts are concerned.

This subject is so dear to me, but it’s been a long time since I’ve written about it formally. I think the reason is I could sense I was experiencing a shift in terms of what these concepts meant to me, and out of respect for it and out of respect for my own growth too, I needed to just sit with it.

As a little historical overview, I became interested in the subject of spirit guides in 2014 when I had, what I consider to be, the first of many wake-up calls. I read books, practiced communication, had lots of personal experiences, and even explored workshops on the topic. In 2016, I was working heavily with tarot and had this epiphany that the two elements would go beautifully together. That was when I devised a system to connect with guides with the aid of tarot. I went as far as to designate certain cards to represent different guide types, and then I took that concept and created an online challenge, inviting others to participate and get to know their spiritual teams too.

Following that, I continued to share my learnings with others, provide resources, and even ran a second version of the challenge at the beginning of 2019. Even at that time, I found it more and more difficult to put my understanding of these ideas into words. I became very aware of the inclination to “over-form” these connections and I began to consider that communication with “the unseen” may be more vast than what I’d so far been able to conceptualize.

So I began to reconsider what it all meant and how I’d describe it now, which is the culmination of lots of contemplation, direct experience, inspired insights, the work I do in conjunction with my partner, and other such things. One night as I was considering this specific post, I set the intention to receive some information in my dreams that could help me. That night I woke up around 2 am from a dream that, while technically fuzzy, left me with a more fulsome understanding of the spectrum I will soon describe, and even gave me the title for this article. It conveyed that rather than referring to this phenomena as “Spirit Guides” in sum, it would be clearer to separate the words. In this way, we are dealing with Spirit as a whole, messages or entities we perceive as being guiding forces, and then the “beyond” (that which remains ineffable and intangible).

I think words and precision are important when it comes to these concepts. This is also why I have removed older pieces, taken down resources, and added addendums to that which remains. I simply found myself in a situation where I believed in something so deeply, but no longer knew how to adequately talk about it.

I am hoping this explanation will prove helpful or at least interesting to those who come across it. The remainder of this post will be formatted as follows: A list of general principles that I uphold as it relates to my understanding of this subject, an overview of the “spectrum of spirit communication”, and then responses to the FAQs I receive on this topic.

Elphias Levi once stated, regarding tarot - “As an erudite Kabalistic book, all combinations of which reveal the harmonies preexisting between signs, letters and numbers, the practical value of the tarot is truly and above all marvelous. A prisoner devoid of books, had he only a tarot of which he knew how to make use, could in a few years acquire a universal science, and converse with an unequalled doctrine and inexhaustible eloquence.”

We have come to regard tarot as one gateway to the beyond - not unlike other methods such as meditation, trance, ouija, runes, dreams, hallucinogenic drugs or even contemplation. Could it be though that tarot holds not just the means, but the map itself? Somewhere along our discovery in the months leading up to second contact, we began to explore something we refer to as “the gates”. It would be difficult to reverse engineer this process because a lot of it was stray thought or unexplained guidance, so I’ll just provide some of what we came to and omit the ramble.

The last time we talked to Frank in an organized fashion was last Saturday, November 7th. Our first formal introduction to Frank was on May 24th, 2020.

The two entries that precede this one cover the timeline of January 1, 2020 - sometime in March.

Because stories rarely unfold in a perfect line, we will aptly allow this one to function more like a spiral. With that being said, I’d like to start this post with a piece of music titled O Radiant Dawn by James MacMillan and Apollo5. It was given to us last week via our communication channel with the still undisclosed Frank. It will serve as an appropriate introduction to access the vibration of this update and also remind us, no matter where this goes, music remains an important theme.

For the days following the purchase of Becoming Supernatural, we spent some time searching online and through our own resources trying to uncover what the word gamma meant for us.

In this frenzied discovery process, we uncovered a handful of interesting leads and connections which I will highlight below.

How do I begin a story that hasn’t concluded? How can I express personal events in a way that will capture the attention of those who haven't experienced them? There are so many “we don’t knows” when it comes to the discovery of Frank, but we are hoping it is still possible to convey the essence of this journey and its significance. And who knows, perhaps some of what we discover will resonate with the reader. Maybe you even hold a key that will help shed some light on what we uncover. Or perhaps you too will find yourself stumbling through a sea of bizarre synchronicities and occurrences wondering what the heck it all means.

Tarot has many uses, and one day I intend to write a blog post detailing the ones I go to most commonly, but today, I want to tackle just one - communicating with spirit.

Before we get into techniques, I first want to distinguish this method of using tarot from regular spirit-chat when it comes to divination or reflective readings. When I'm doing a reading, especially for others, I often refer to the messages received as having "come from spirit". So, when I send email reports out, I'll have lines that read "spirit says..." or "spirit wants you to know...". This is not me specifically communicating with a deceased loved one, for example, but simply put, I use the word "spirit" to describe a large body of otherworldlyness - i.e. your spirit guide team, your higher self, the divine source etc.